In offshore, marine, or coastal gas turbine applications, such as but not limited to oil platforms and vessels, salt water spray may flood the inlet air filters to a gas turbine. Various filters have been proposed in the art to mitigate the effects of the sea water spray. For example, a microglass filtration media with a water repellent coating has been used to provide impingement points for the water to strike, and the water repellent coating aids in the coalescence and shedding of the sea water. However, this design of filter is mounted generally level in the horizontal flow direction, thus collecting the shed water in the bottom of the filter. This collected water is forced back into the filter by the entering air thereby blocking a portion of air filtration of the filter. Thus, the efficiency of the filter can be reduced if the filter becomes wet and continues to be saturated.
It is of importance that the air filters coalesce the water droplets and remove or reduce the water's impact so as to keep the filter media clear in order that the water does not saturate the media resulting in a high pressure event that is adverse to the operation of the gas turbine engine.